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| Banging the Hub to Call the Boat |
Leaving Kampala after seeing the crazy traffic, a few major sights, and having some deliciously cheap pizza, we almost missed our morning Posta Bus because the guy told us the wrong departure time. We arrived at 7:30AM for the 8AM departure, but the bus was leaving as we arrived - Phew!!! This bus dropped us off in Jinja, about 1 hour up the road towards Kenya, and famous for being the main source of the Nile River.
As so often happens with us, our plans changed during the bus ride. We decided to skip a night's stay in Jinja, and opted to attempt to get to the excellently named 'Hairy Lemon' Lodge on the Nile River. We had trouble getting in touch with anyone at Hairy Lemon, so were unsure if the place still existed, or was open at this slow time of the year. Finally, it was confirmed that thing's up there were still running, so we quickly made our way there, even through the rain on our boda boda (motorbike taxi).
Upon arrival, you have to bang on a car hub hanging in a tree with a metal peg, to get the attention of the boatman on the island. Then, out of the bushes comes the boat, across some minor rapids of the Nile River. Our river taxi had arrived and within minutes we were on the island in the middle of the
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| Watching the boat taxi arrive from Hairy Lemon |
Nile, chilling out with our first family meal - a much needed lunch!!
We set up tent on the banks of the Nile, with views towards the sunset side of the river. It also provided us with some misty morning wake-up views over the river. This place looked pretty cool, with plenty of chill-out areas around - something we had rarely seen in Africa. Hammocks, big comfy pillows in roofed lounges overlooking the Nile. Very relaxing, and we immediately felt we would get stuck here.
Paul, the South African owner was pretty chilled out himself. I guess you get that way living on an island, isolated from many places. One thing I really enjoyed with him was playing Frisbee Golf, on his ghetto course he had organized
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| The view of the Nile from our Tent |
around the island. It was quite addictive, and I kept playing with friends Jeff and Nicole, even by myself, to try to beat my personal best. The course record used to be held by Paul at 21, but a guest beat it at 20, and that will probably stand for some time. My personal best was a respectable 25, so I was happy with that performance. It was great, because on hole number 3, you could take a quick swim break at his dammed swimming hole on the Nile. The water would start off very low in the morning, and by the end of the day, would have raised by about 0.7m. More water flowing out of the dams upstream, for more Ugandan electricity.
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| Red Tail Monkey at Hairy Lemon |
As with so many places in Africa, the camp was often invaded by monkeys. These ones though, didn't seem too comfortable around people, which is nice - meaning they don't get fed and they are not scrounging. The group of red tail monkeys are eternally stuck on the small group of islands, but they don't seem to mind as their natural food is plentiful there. It is fun to have them swinging around while chilling out anywhere on the property or beaches. Also, there were plenty of birds all around the river and we often woke up to the noisiness of the weaver birds, building more and more nests.
The food was quite good, and all meals were served family style. Anita, the manager, and her staff set out the food and it was buffet style for all the guests at once. It was a good way to meet others,
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| Owner Paul, and Manager Anita at Hairy Lemon Bar |
and we met a group of Dutch/Norwegian girls living in Jinja. This was a lucky meeting for us, as not only were they a good laugh, but we ended up staying in an empty room in their house in Jinja.
We finally left after four days, but earlier in the day than the girls. We wanted to see a little of Jinja before we left. And that's pretty much what we saw, very little. We did walk past what is considered the main source of the Nile River, beginning it's over 6000km through Uganda, Sudan, Egypt and into the Mediterranean. It's pretty nondescript, but is apparently where the river first exited Lake Victoria, before the big dams were built. Now it just looks like a slow flowing river, or extension of an inlet. Still, we've now been to two of the claimed 'Sources' of the Nile, both of them not very impressive. The river was on the other side of a golf course, and there was a funny sight of about 8 or so massive marabou storks on the green looking
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| Beers with Josh and Glen in Jinja |
like they were just ready to putt. One even dug into the hole under the flag like he was looking for a ball, and tried to pull out the flag.
After our brief tour, we arrived back at the restaurant Flavours, where we had been hanging out. Having trouble organizing to meet the girls, we were 'saved' by a couple of patrons, Josh from the US, and Glen from Ireland. They 'saved' us by buying us a few beers to have with them, while we passed the time until the girls met up with us for dinner. It was a good laugh hanging out with them, but I'm sure it ended up with a bad head the next day for one of them!! Thanks for 'Saving' Us!! *Stub
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